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Jordi Fabre
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Joined: 07 Aug 2006
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Location: Barcelona
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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 Posted: Feb 17, 2021 04:32 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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| Hi Jordi, I had some difficulties at the beginning, but now I understand how it works. Thank you very much.
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Tobi
Site Admin
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Posts: 4248
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Feb 17, 2021 04:39 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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| Jean Suffert wrote: | Fluorite, Quartz
Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France
Dimensions: 22 x 8 x 8 cm
Description:
This deep blue specimen is 22 cm long, and 8 cm wide at its greatest width. The largest crystal is 4 X 4 cm, on one side of the "pebble" it is only fluorite and on the other side a few partially iron oxide colored quartz crystals under the blue fluorite but not necessarily too intense yellow. It was mined in 1974 just after the previous sample and I still remember the instant I pulled it out of its geode after unhooking it without really knowing what was on the back. My father present, a great blind collector, was the second person to be able to touch it to realize the size and number of perfectly crystallized cubes. It was a very emotional moment. |
Hi Jean, after 30 years as a mineral collector with a particular love for fluorite, your 22 cm deep blue fluorite is one of the most beautiful mineral specimens I have ever seen. An incredibly beautiful thing, I could look for hours at this enchanting specimen!
Thanks for sharing this surreal fluorite, regards
Tobi
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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| Posted: Feb 17, 2021 06:29 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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| Thank you Tobi for your kind words. Yes I am quite happy to have the chance to discover such a rare blue fluorite. At this time I didn't know that this kind of blue color was not very common for fluorite and often, for some specimens from the Massif Central (France), very unstable in presence of light. Have a nice day. Yours
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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| Posted: Feb 17, 2021 12:54 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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One of the biggest peace that was extracted from the Moritz II mine in Sewen in 1974
| Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
| Locality: | | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France |  |
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| Dimensions: | 26 X 18 X 18 cm |
| Description: |
BLUE STORY
Hello, in an article* published in 2016 by Alain Martaud in Rocks and Minerals, this one said:
“In the 1920s, the Moritz II mine was briefly worked for fluorite but proved uneconomic and was abandoned. A few specimens of intense blue cubes to 4 cm on ferruginous quartz exist. In 1974 some local amateurs braved entry to the old workings and found a good pocket before being interrupted by dangerous flooding. Some of the specimens recovered are of top quality, but they are very few, and most collectors have never even seen one. From the quality of the specimens this may be considered a world-class site”
*Alain Martaud (2016) Blue Fluorite from France, Rocks & Minerals, 91:3, 212-233, DOI: 10.1080/00357529.2016.1138424. To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00357529.2016.1138424
This third sample from the Moritz II mine in Sewen (Alsace, Vosges) was extracted just after the previous one published in FMF recently. In the fluorite vein, the geode greatly enlarged revealing an incredible landscape of dark blue crystals. The difficulty was to extract it from an extremely tough quartz matrix without blowing up the cubes. All of the quartz crystals were coated with iron oxide, more on the ones at the base of the geode than on the ceiling. After 2 days of work, drilling the quartz with an electro-pneumatic drill with drills of 80 cm and 20 mm in diameter, we came to the end of this fluorite without too much breakage. It is 26 cm high, 8.1 kg and the fluorite part 16x16x16 placed on quartz crystals colored by a thin layer of iron oxide. The whole base is in quartz. Unfortunately, the larger crystal, which was damaged during extraction, has a 5.7 cm edge. Almost at the same time, another exceptional piece was extracted which consisted of a plate approximately 25x25 cm covered with blue fluorite cubes on both sides making several cm edges and which was attributed to my team-mate. Today I have no idea where it is and it will be very difficult to find out as his ex-owner has been deceased for a few years. The other surprise of the day was the discovery of another exceptional piece. Unfortunately, I will not be able to show it to you because between the two weekends, that of its discovery and that of its extraction, it had disappeared. I was to return to Strasbourg on the Monday when I was a student. It was discovered following the extraction of the sample presented today. Following its removal, I bent over the geode to see the rest: extraordinary !! A small mound of bright yellow colored quartz about twenty cm in diameter was topped by several interlocking multi-center intense blue cubes, the largest of which must have been at least 6 cm ridge. It was a late Sunday night, we were all very tired from a long and energy consuming weekend and decided to come back the following Saturday to extract the wonder. Evil took us, the following Saturday at 9am, the geode was empty! Nothing more than the base of crystallized quartz. We were me, my father, my teammate, and a younger accompanying us, apparently totally devastated. Sewen’s adventure ended there.
25 years later I have learned the hard and ruthless truth. I was 20 in 1974 and certainly a little naive. My "friend", co-teammate, RS (God bless his soul, he's no longer of this world), had returned with the young man to extract in solo the piece in question without telling us a word about it. And we who thought that this beautiful sample had been destroyed. In fact, it still exists, many know it and its current owner is a French mineralogist well known to many of us. When you discover such beauty, her exact and intact photo remains etched in your memory for life. I do not know the exact route that this sample has taken during all its years, it has passed into the hands of great collectors of fluorite, but it has every chance of ending its life one day in a large museum!! Fortunately, it will remain in the heritage of French minerals in good place.
It just goes to show that you should never put off until tomorrow what you can do the same day. A little story from the past remembered with great serenity. The best for 2021 to all “pebbles”, it should be better than the one that just passed away.
PS: Honnestly, the blue color of the sample changes a little bit depending on the color of the background when we go from black to white on the shelves in my collection. |
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| Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
| Locality: | | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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| Dimensions: | 26 X 18 X 18 cm |
| Description: |
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17660 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
| Locality: | | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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| Dimensions: | 26 X 18 X 18 cm |
| Description: |
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17666 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
| Locality: | | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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| Dimensions: | 26 X 18 X 18 cm |
| Description: |
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17663 Time(s) |
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Tobi
Site Admin
Joined: 07 Apr 2009
Posts: 4248
Location: Germany
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2021 03:10 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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| Incredibly beautiful!
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2021 16:26 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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A little piece with a 2 X 2 cm cube, extracted before the big pieces presented recently
| Mineral: | Fluorite, Quartz |
| Locality: | | Moritz II Mine, Sewen, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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| Dimensions: | 7 x 5 cm |
| Description: |
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13384 Time(s) |
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2021 16:55 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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This small crystal of anglesite is extremely rare on this location of the Vosges mountains in Alsace.
| Mineral: | Anglesite on Baryte |
| Locality: | | Steinbach, Cernay, Thann-Guebwiller, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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| Dimensions: | crystal = 5 mm |
| Description: |
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13337 Time(s) |
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2021 17:03 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Roses of hematite from a very well known location in the Vosges mountains
| Mineral: | Hematite |
| Locality: | | Saphoz, Esmoulières, Faucogney-et-la-Mer, Lure, Haute-Saône, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France | |
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| Dimensions: | 14 x 7 cm |
| Description: |
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13409 Time(s) |
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2021 17:13 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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At the foot of the wines in Alsace very nice cubes of light purple fluorite have been discovered in 1975
| Mineral: | Fluorite |
| Locality: | | Bergheim, Colmar-Ribeauvillé, Collectivité Européenne d'Alsace, Grand Est, France | |
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| Dimensions: | 6 x 5 cm |
| Description: |
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| Viewed: |
13357 Time(s) |
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Michael Shaw
Site Admin
Joined: 30 Apr 2008
Posts: 2252
Location: Oklahoma
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2021 18:33 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Very well cristalized vanadinite on baryte from Midel-Mibladen
| Mineral: | Vanadinite on white Baryte |
| Locality: | | Mibladen (Mibladen mining district), Midelt, Midelt Province, Drâa-Tafilalet Region, Morocco | |
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| Dimensions: | 10 x 7 cm |
| Description: |
| the biggest crystal is 13 mm |
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13312 Time(s) |
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2021 18:36 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Thank you Michael for your advice.
Sincerely Jean
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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| Posted: Feb 18, 2021 18:46 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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Rutile stars on hematite
| Mineral: | Rutile on Hematite |
| Locality: | | Ibitiara, Bahia, Northeast Region, Brazil | |
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| Dimensions: | 8 x 5 cm |
| Description: |
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| Viewed: |
13301 Time(s) |
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Jean Suffert
Joined: 15 Feb 2021
Posts: 66
Location: Alsace
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| Posted: Feb 19, 2021 08:20 Post subject: Re: Collection of Jean Suffert |
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To stay in the Alsatian atmosphere here is a rare sample collected by myself in the Gabe Gottes mine in St Marie aux Mines, a few years ago, a fluckite, not too spectacular but unique. Harvest made in the presence of the discoverer of this mineral, Pierre Fluck and Hubert Bari, lifelong friends. Fluckite CaMnH2 (AsO4) 2 · 2 (H2O)
| Mineral: | Fluckite |
| Locality: | | Gabe Gottes Mine, Sankt Jakob vein, Neuenberg Mountain, Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, Colmar-Ribeauvillé, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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| Dimensions: | 10 x 5 cm |
| Description: |
| Fluckite was first described in 1980 for an occurrence in the Gabe-Gottes Mine in Haut-Rhin, Alsace, France, and named for mineralogist Pierre Fluck from Louis Pasteur, University of Strasbourg, France. The mineral was found in a depth of 100 m (330 ft). It occurs as a post-mine phase on carbonate gangue. It occurs in association with native arsenic, tennantite, skutterudite, sainfeldite, pharmacolite, villyaellenite, picropharmacolite, calcite, dolomite, ankerite and quartz (Wikipedia source) |
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| Viewed: |
13202 Time(s) |
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| Mineral: | Fluckite |
| Locality: | | Gabe Gottes Mine, Sankt Jakob vein, Neuenberg Mountain, Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines, Colmar-Ribeauvillé, Haut-Rhin, Grand Est, France | |
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| Dimensions: | 10 mm |
| Description: |
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| Viewed: |
13115 Time(s) |
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